Good popular music

[Cargést]

It's not an impossibility, just a rarity.  I'm getting very much into what I would call "House" music at the moment - a friend of mine is an amateur DJ, and it appears that we've found common ground in throwback disco put to dance beats with drawn out passages of extensive layering.  Some of this stuff (Daft Punk especially) actually ranks up there with a lot of good Metal, in my esteem (particularly the album "Discovery").  Examples: Daft Punk - Around the World, Modjo - Lady, and Louis La Roché - Be Brace.

This thread is mainly for discussion and possible recommendation of similarly good popular music.

[lord.aspie]

Rush deserve a place in every hessian heart at least!

As far as I go with "pop": Wired Al Yankovich, Public Enemy, and dumber down electronica can be fun. 

Most pop is hardly music as I see, but rather a social object/lubricant or small self gratifying distraction. Not to sound pompous, but  for those reasons I consider most of it not music at all.

[Cargést]

"Music as entertainment" as opposed to "music as Art".

What's a good Rush album to start with?

[Sepulchral Voice]

"Music as entertainment" as opposed to "music as Art".

What's a good Rush album to start with?

The only ones I like personally are Caress of Steel, A Farewell to Kings, and Hemispheres. I don't think these are inherently better than 2112 or Fly By Night, they just appeal to me more. Start with the first track on Hemispheres, if you like that, try more.

What are we counting as pop music? Jethro Tull has a few good records, and two ANUS-reviewed mentions: The Doors and My Bloody Valentine.

[esoteric]

Hail Cargest! I'm starting to worry with your latest string of posts praising Dragonforce and now house music...

The floodgates are wide open with this thread. I'm expecting to see Take That mentioned at some stage.

[Cargést]

I would expect the incredibly lucid and intellectually active members of this forum to withhold judgment until they had experience of the object to be judged!  We all agree that anything abhorrently mainstream is bad (most "pop" falls into this category).  The question here is what "mainstream" is good.  Also, DragonForce is the best Metal band ever, don't diss them.

[indjaseemun]

I wrote a whole text here and it was erased due to problems. So I'm just going to post music and I am very very curious as to the opinion of the members. I'll write on the subject of my appreciation of popular music later. Check:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZLMoMe3PjU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UH4mzosiKQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdzoK5jwESM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW3gKKiTvjs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCEMrSvkzAQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KazWn8KyZt8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6d2C2dzFlM

[Examiner]

The pioneering works are artistically and musically superior as far as electronic pop music goes, such as Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra.

[esoteric]

I would expect the incredibly lucid and intellectually active members of this forum to withhold judgment until they had experience of the object to be judged!  We all agree that anything abhorrently mainstream is bad (most "pop" falls into this category).  The question here is what "mainstream" is good.  Also, DragonForce is the best Metal band ever, don't diss them.

If it's true what you said earlier - that pop is music for entertainment and not art, then I'm not sure anyone one can say what is good or bad. I like Bob Dylan's music more than any other pop songwriter, but that's all I can say - it might be bad for all I know! If I'm seeking entertainment, then what's good is what entertains me. That's very different from metal.

[lord.aspie]

"Music as entertainment" as opposed to "music as Art".

What's a good Rush album to start with?

I think "recreation" is a more appropriate term. Most ordinary people do not listen to it for it's sake alone, but as something to accompany an activity - a background for a social function, something to dance to at parties, GTA pimping, ect..

For Rush, A Farewell to Kings and 2112 are without a doubt some of the most memorable moments in prog rock. An outrageously optimistic and youthful spirit of attacking the fuck out of life for the joy of it. Everything up to Moving Pictures (where they full on adopted pop music, but with spirit and creativity) is what you want to pay attention to.

[Cargést]

The pioneering works are artistically and musically superior as far as electronic pop music goes, such as Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra.

I'm inclined to agree with this, and I think I'll add that the genres of pop music more directly evolved from early electronic music (in substance, not in style) seem more likely to be worthwhile.

I would expect the incredibly lucid and intellectually active members of this forum to withhold judgment until they had experience of the object to be judged!  We all agree that anything abhorrently mainstream is bad (most "pop" falls into this category).  The question here is what "mainstream" is good.  Also, DragonForce is the best Metal band ever, don't diss them.

If it's true what you said earlier - that pop is music for entertainment and not art, then I'm not sure anyone one can say what is good or bad. I like Bob Dylan's music more than any other pop songwriter, but that's all I can say - it might be bad for all I know! If I'm seeking entertainment, then what's good is what entertains me. That's very different from metal.

My point in this thread is that not all music which falls within the "popular" genres is mindless drivel for the masses.  Some of it, albeit an incredibly small percentage, is thoughtfully composed, and maintains interest.  I've mentioned Daft Punk again and again because they've successfully kept my interest for a number of years - for all I know at the moment, the rest of that kind of music is, simply, crap, and I'll be done with it in due course.  I can't see a problem with looking into it, though.

A Farewell to Kings

Listening to some of this now.  It's certainly interesting.

[Dead_Soul]

It's not an impossibility, just a rarity.  I'm getting very much into what I would call "House" music at the moment - a friend of mine is an amateur DJ, and it appears that we've found common ground in throwback disco put to dance beats with drawn out passages of extensive layering.  Some of this stuff (Daft Punk especially) actually ranks up there with a lot of good Metal, in my esteem (particularly the album "Discovery").  Examples: Daft Punk - Around the World, Modjo - Lady, and Louis La Roché - Be Brace.

This thread is mainly for discussion and possible recommendation of similarly good popular music.

Have some Squarepusher with that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Y3piodWes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yA8MRphI8w&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CHV44WpKw4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G01DKEig14&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUBPH6vp5Uo

[Humanicide]

The thread title is a contradiction in terms.

I've never found much enjoyment in popular music. I suppose the closest I get would be Billy Bragg, Weird Al (purely for the ridiculousness/nostalgic value), and a few choice rock bands like Alice in Chains, Cream, The Doors, etc.

[zebra bodine]

The past couple years I've gotten way into some indie folk bands, primarily Okkervil River, Shearwater, and the Decemberists.  Colin Meloy of the Decemberists tells some wonderfully perverse and disturbing stories in the form of upbeat acoustic folk.  Shearwater's last album "The Golden Archipelago" is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard, though they evolved well beyond folk into a highly-textured, more orchestral rock format.

[istaros]

Like Sepulchral Voice pointed out, what are we defining here as popular music? I like *some* Bjork, Kraftwerk, Boards of Canada, and Autechre, but I don't know that they or any of the other bands mentioned in this thread would really be considered mainstream, aside from Rush. The closest that come to it are Bjork and Daft Punk, but even they lie a little below the Top 40 spectrum. Public Enemy would fall into that category, except most people who listen to rap don't tend to think of albums in terms of their being classics or not, which would more or less disqualify them too. As for Dragonforce, that's one of the candidates for worst band of all time, along with the Beegees, Creed, Bread, and (to me) the Eagles.